Matt and Shannon Cherry held a “naming ceremony” for their daughters at the recent Atheist Alliance International convention.
Most of these types of ceremonies are religious in nature, but this was a chance to hold a secular celebration for the family.
Matt Cherry wrote about the event for the On Faith website:
… there is nothing intrinsically religious about celebrating rites of passage. Atheists like me also have values and aspirations, family and friends. So after my twin daughters Lyra and Sophia were born, my wife Shannon and I decided to create a humanist “Welcome to the World” ceremony for them.
…
The ceremony focused on our commitment to raise our daughters to be creative, compassionate, critical thinkers. There was no commitment to encourage them to be atheists or humanists: while they will be raised in an openly humanist family, we want them to work out their beliefs and values for themselves. A central purpose of the ceremony was to appoint Mentors. These supporting adults, from outside the family circle, promised to take a special interest in our daughters’ welfare and happiness.
Even Richard Dawkins participated in the event 🙂
… the ceremony touched something very deep inside all of us. It celebrated our humanity, as expressed through our love for our children and our desire for community. While expressing these values in our different ways, we should remember that they are shared by both the religious and the nonreligious alike, as members of the same family –the human family.
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]